Bobby's lunch routine and other idiosyncracies

It has been quite a challenge feeding Bobby for the last two years or so ever since he became extraordinarily picky over his food.  


I have to try all sorts of food just to entice him to eat and at one point, nothing worked. He refused to eat, or would just pick at his food and ended up losing a lot of weight.  


He doesn't care for AD either.  


So, when i discovered Canine Caviar AND he actually liked it, I thought I had found an elixir from doggie-heaven. By just eating Canine Caviar for three days, Bobby actually visibly put on weight. I thought my worries were over.... 


But not so....


Bobby grew tired of it within a week and refused to eat it. And I'm stuck with a whole packet of Canine Caviar which I now turn into lunch "cocktails" for him, like so....

That's canned food cut (I have to keep changing brands and flavours too) into square bite-size pieces, and the Canine Caviar kibbles are used as a "decorative" tops. The trick worked for a few days, but now, he eats all the wetfood and leaves the kibbles!

And Bobby won't approach his food until Cow has done a food-testing procedure by eating a bit of it. Cow is Bobby's trusted connoisseur. "You eat first and check if there is any poison."

 Then Cow moves away (he just eats a wee bit), and Bobby approaches his food.

And eats!

Without Cow's food-testing, there is no way I can get him to eat at all. He'll just sit and wait until Cow comes along. And Cow seems to know his duty.  

Bobby is also becoming more and more disorientated in the house. He used to be able to find his way around effortlessly despite being completely blind, but now, he bumps a lot into the furniture. But he is "padded enough", so it doesn't injure him.

Bunny and Tiger act his "buffers". When they see him approaching a wall, they go infront of him so that he bumps into their bodies instead.

Bobby is also suffering from "separation anxiety". Apparently when I am not at home, he sometimes goes into a panic trying to look for me. He'd go upstairs and all over the house frantically searching for me. And when he cannot find me, he howls. There is nothing anyone can do to pacify him. He'll howl until he gets tired and falls asleep. Earlier on, my husband would take my unwashed clothes from the washing machine and place it in front of him. That worked! He'll think it's me and he settles down and lies on my clothes. Now it doesn't work anymore.

I guess when we grow old, we will also have our own idiosyncratic problems.

That is why I cannot leave the house longer than necessary.

Bobby's bodyguard and best friend, Tiger.

Flashback to five years ago:

Bobby looked after Tiger when he first came.

When Tiger had that persistent sore which wouldn't heal for one whole year, Bobby helped lick it and it would heal, but would flare up again soon after. It looked like a sporo wound, yet it wasn't sporo (when tested). It was all red and sore and it would even bleed. It was the size of a 20 sen coin, on the side of his neck.  

It was finally cured by one session of acupuncture. When I told the vets, they guaranteed me that it would only be temporary and it would definitely recur, but it hasn't ever since (November 2009). It's almost coming to two years now, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  

If indeed it's healed for good, it looks like 12 needles did the trick! The acupuncture also cured Tiger of his limp (which no vets could - I took him to three vets) and gave him a new sense of feline confidence (which he never had since young). I got him the acupuncture to cure his limp, actually. But the sore also got cured in the process! The vets have always told me that Tiger has some breathing problem (shallow breathing) which probably explains why he lacks confidence. I think the acupuncture might have even addressed this as he became very confident after 3 sessions.  

See this:

http://www.myanimalcare.org/2009/11/tigers-first-acupuncture-session-with.html

http://www.myanimalcare.org/2009/11/tigers-2nd-acupuncture-treatment.html

http://www.myanimalcare.org/2009/11/tigers-3rd-acupuncture-session.html

Never underestimate TCM. Remember the eastern people were civilised first!